To STEPHEN SIBTHORPE, Esq: one of the Knights of the Shire of the
County of Lowth.

We, the free and independent Electors of the County of Lowth, take this
early Opportunity of congratulating you on your this Day being chosen by
so large a Majority, to the important Trust of representing us in
Parliament in the Room of your Brother-in-law, our late worthy
Representative, Lord Chief Baron Forster, and to express our Happiness in
the Confidence which we have from our long acquaintance with your upright
and steady Conduct, that your utmost Zeal will be exerted as eminently as
his was, in promoting the Welfare and Prosperity of our Country.

After your public Declaration, and our private Knowledge of your
Sentiments, in Favour of the Bill now depending, for limiting the Duration
of Parliaments, we are confident that you will use every constitutional
Means to procure for this Kingdom, a Law so essential to the Protestant
Interest, the Support of our Liberty, and the ancient, legal, and
unrepealed Right of all his Majesty's Subjects of Ireland.

You may be assured, that your Exertion in Parliament to acquire this
long wished-for Support to our happy Constitution, will be the most
pleasing Return you can make to your Constituents for the high Favour they
have this Day conferred on you.

Dundalk Nov. 18, 1767.

Geo.
Adams

Peter
Adams

Wm.
Adams

Charles
Aston

Robert
Aston

Robert
Aston, jun.

John
Babe

Hugh
Bailie

John
Bailie

Robert
Bailie

Rob.
Bale

Wm.
Batt

Dan.
Blackwell

Hen.
Blackwell

Henry
Blackwell

Monro
Blackwell

Richardson Blackwell

John
Brush

Edward
Caldwell

John
Clerke

Henry
Coddington

Alex.
Craig

John
Craig

Arthur Craven

Andrew de la Cour

Rob.
Dickie

Francis
Donagh

Philip
Donagh

Walter
Eccleston

Wm.
Eccleston

Tho.
Ferguson

Alex.
Filgate

John
Filgate

Tho.
Filgate

William
Filgate

William
Filgate, jun.

Charles
Fleetwood

Andrew
Forster

Nicholas Forster

John
Foster

Robert
Foster

Tho.
Foster

Wm.
Foster

Rich.
Gaynor

John
Gibson

Thomas
Green

Wm.
Green

Edward
Gunnele

John
Hale

Wm.
Hale

Wm.
Holmes

Tho.
Hopkins

Tho.
Hughes

Robert
Leavens

Walter
Lindsay

Matthew
Lorrinar

Charles
Lyster

Anthony
Marshall

John
Marshall

John
McLintock

Wm.
Mead

Squire
Moneypenny

Brent
Moore

Henry
Moore

John
Ogle

Wm.
Ogle

John
Orson

John
Page

Tho.
Palmer

Phillip
Pendleton

Adam
Pepper

Andrew
Pepper

Tho.
Pepper

Edward
Pilkington

Rob.
Richardson

Stephen
Romford

John
Ruxton

Cha.
Sallary

James
Sheils

Rob.
Sibthorpe

Richard
Sketton

Alexander Smart

Ephraim
Stannus

Ephraim
Stannus

Trevor
Stannus

Peter
Terrile

John
Tisdale

Tho.
Tisdall

Tho.
Turner

Laurence Tydiman

Garrett
Tyrrill

Wm.
Tyrrill

John
Williams

Roger
Williamson

Richard
Workman

Rob.
Wynne

STEPHEN SIBTHORPE, Esqr's Answer to the Gentlemen, clergy, and
Freeholders, the free and independent Electors of the County of Lowth.

Your kind Congratulations, so early expressed, add largely to the
Happiness I feel on being chosen by so respectable a Majority, to the
important Trust of representing you in Parliament, the Septennial Bill has
ever had my warmest Wishes, and I shall use my utmost Endeavours to
procure it's being passed into a Law, satisfied, that a Limitation of
Parliament is our ancient, legal Right, and shall be the most effectual
Means of strengthening the Protestant Interest of this Kingdom.

Your Acquainting me thus early with your Commands, is a pleasing Mark
of the Confidence you repose in me, and be assured, that on every
Occasion, I shall be extremely happy in receiving the Orders of my
Constituents, which I shall most cheerfully obey.

Corporation of Glovers and Skinners of Drogheda: Ralph Smyth Approbation

[ Freeman's Journal, Thursday, 08 Oct 1795]

Town
of Drogheda

At a numerous and respectable meeting of the Corporation of Glovers and
Skinners, of the County of the Town of Drogheda, in Common Hall assembled,
on Friday the 2d of October, it was unanimously Resolved that the Freedom of
the said Corporation be presented to Ralph Smyth, Esqr., our late worthy
Mayor, together with the following address:

We the Master, Wardens and Brethren of the Corporation of Glovers and
Skinners of the County of the Town of Drogheda, sensible of the many
advantages which have arisen to this Town and its vicinity from your
unremitted attention to every department of office as Chief Magistrate,
think it a duty incumbent on us to return you our warmest acknowledgments;
and we sincerely hope, that your assiduity and impartiality in the
administration of justice, may stimulate your successors to imitate that
conduct which has so justly met our approbation.

William Gibbons Master

George Jones } Wardens

William Cleapem }

Oct. 2, 1795.

Ordered, that the above address, together with Mr. Smyth’s Answer, be
published three times in the Drogheda, Freeman, Dublin, and Hibernian
Journals.

To The Masters, Wardens, and Brethren of the Corporation of Glovers and
Skinners, of the County of the Town of Drogheda

Gentleman,

The approbation which your loyal Corporation has been pleased to express of
my conduct in the office of Chief Magistrate, demands my most sincere
Thanks. I am highly flattered in the honour you have done me, in conferring
on me the Freedom of your respectable body. My gratitude for these favours
will call upon me in every situation of life, to show with what sincere
esteem I remain,

[From The
Dundalk Democrat 25 July 1891] 'For the above purposes the sums appearing opposite their
names have been contributed by the undermentioned. As the list will
shortly be closed all others desirous of contributing are kindly invited
to send on their subscriptions soon to Dr. O'Hagan, Castlebellingham,
the treasurer, or to either of the secretaries (Michael Meade and Gerald
Patrick Doyle) Castlebellingham.'

In another comment in the newspaper is the following: -

'The Late Lady Constance Bellingham

We publish in another column a list of subscriptions
received by the committee towards the erection of a memorial to the late
Lady Constance Bellingham. We are glad to know that the movement
promises to be very successful, and that the result will be worthy of
the memory of this good and charitable lady.'

[Note:Constance Julia Eleanor Georgina Noel (daughter of
Charles George Noel and Adelaide Harriet Augusta Hay)was born on
19 Oct 1847 at Marylebone, London. She married Sir
Alan Henry Bellingham on 13 Jan 1874. She died on 8 Apr 1891
at Castlebellingham.]

[Names are in
surname order and not as in the original newspaper report]

Bodies under County Council—Three
Rural Councils and three Unions. The following are financed in part by
the County Council: Grangegorman Mental Hospital, Louth County
Infirmary, Tuberculosis Committee of Management, County Committee of
Agriculture, Joint Committee of Technical Instruction.

Poor Law Organisation—A County
Scheme is in process of organisation to abolish the different
Workhouses and establish a County Home and Hospital to serve the
entire county.

Agriculture and Industries—The
chief crops are barley, wheat, oats, potatoes, turnips, and a mixed
system of tillage and grazing is in operation throughout the entire
county. Dundalk is the centre of the Great Northern Railway Works, and
there are also tobacco works, a linen factory, and a large joinery
works. A line of steamers runs direct to Liverpool and Glasgow. There
are two breweries and a distillery in the town. Drogheda has linen
factories, large well-equipped Packing Company, and a Steampacket
Service to Liverpool.

Education—The Compulsory Education
Act is in force. A fully equipped Technical School has been
established at Dundalk from which centre classes are organised in
various parts of the county. Six Scholarships of £60 a year are
awarded by the County Council.

Finance—Estimate for current year,
£136,168. Grants withheld by British Government, £23,400.